Image stabilisation – Chinese style

Recently I’ve been checking out photography. If there’s a couple of things I’ve learnt it’d be this (in order of significance):

1. Focus on the artform – shooting, composition, developing an ‘eye’.




2. Lenses – When buying a camera it’s all about the lens system. Decide which brand lenses you like and design an upgrade path that suits your finances/creative needs.




3. Body – For a beginner that just wants to take good photos, any DSLR is a big step up from a point and shoot. Advanced features like HD video, 11 point AF and ISO 12800 are moot.

Despite knowing this, before I splash out the cash I continually ask myself if I’m seeing the big picture (pun intended) – lest be doomed to buying a highly advanced paperweight.

Filed under Random on Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Randomly saw this yesterday and went in not expecting much. It wasn’t a typical, pee your pants kind of funny movie. There was something refreshing about the way it played out and I appreciated the sobered, subtle, ‘real’ feeling. I can totally relate to a person like Ira, a very believable rendition of an average guy trying to make something of himself. I enjoyed the relationship between Ira and his idol, George – contrasting in many ways, balancing each other out.

Oh and there’s some pretty funny jokes too.

Go see it.

Filed under Random on Sunday, September 13th, 2009

My regular dose of geek indulgence. Hybrid heroes with ancient armour and sci-fi gadgetry combined. Ballpoint pen.

A lot of influences floating around in these – Iron Man, Samurais, Roman soldiers, Japanese robots… You get the idea.

The images are pretty large, in fact this whole blog is image heavy – So get a bigger monitor and faster connection because I’m not shrinking these anymore

Filed under Sketchbook on Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Some more random pages from my sketchbook.

Couple of quick ones from life drawing at Art House.

Filed under Sketchbook on Saturday, September 12th, 2009

You, your personality, your individuality come first. Your pictures are your by-product. Everything about your pictures is, and should be, a little of you. They will be a reflection of your knowledge, your experience, your observation, your likes and dislikes, your good taste and your thinking.

As a student I thought there was a formula of some kind that I would get hold of somewhere and thereby become an artist. There is a formula but is has not been in books. It is really plain old courage, standing on one’s own feet and forever seeking enlightenment; courage to develop your way, but learning from the other fellow; experimentation with your own ideas, observing for yourself, a rigid discipline of doing over that which you can improve. I have never found a book that stressed the importance of myself as the caretaker of my ability, of staying healthy mentally and physically, or that gave me an inkling that my courage might be strained to the utmost

Andrew Loomis - Figure Drawing for all it’s Worth

An extract from a great book I’ve been checking out, definitely giving me a lot to ponder. I’ve known for a long time my drawings lack ‘personality’, in the past drawing has been more of a cathartic experience, more about enjoying the process rather than what is produced or the expression of ideas.

Anyway, the extract isn’t just related to drawing. If you substitute the subject matter with any discipline that you’re passionate about, it rings very true.

It may sound like a bunch of artsy fartsy romanticism, but I think that where Loomis speaks of courage, he’s really talking about the discipline, desire and dedication required to achieve mastery in any field – music, sport, whatever.

It’s not easy to spend 10,000 productive hours on something challenging. That being said, I better get back to it.

Filed under Sketchbook on Friday, September 4th, 2009